City of Tranquil Light

A Novel

By: Bo Caldwell

Narrated by: Bronson Pinchot

Will Kiehn is seemingly destined for life as a humble farmer in the Midwest when, having felt a call from God, he travels to the vast North China Plain in the early twentieth century. There he is surprised by love and weds a strong and determined fellow missionary, Katherine. They soon find themselves witnesses to the crumbling of a more than two-thousand-year-old dynasty that plunges the country into decades of civil war. As the couple works to improve the lives of the people of Kuang P’ing Ch’eng - City of Tranquil Light, a place they come to love - and face incredible hardship, will their faith and relationship be enough to sustain them?

©2010 Bo Caldwell (P)2010 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Critic reviews

“A remarkable evocation of another time and place as well as a deeply moving love story.” (Ron Rash, author of Serena)

“City of Tranquil Light is a poem in prose form, and it will lift any reader’s spirit as it lifted mine.” (Jay Parini, author of The Last Station)

"Told through Will and Katherine’s alternating viewpoints, and inspired by the lives of the author’s maternal grandparents, City of Tranquil Light is a tender and elegiac portrait of a young marriage set against the backdrop of the shifting face of a beautiful but torn nation. A deeply spiritual book, it shows how those who work to teach others often have the most to learn and is further evidence that Bo Caldwell writes “vividly and with great historical perspective.” ( San Jose Mercury News)

Compelling story told well

Since I'm not a big fan of Christian lit I didn't expect to like this much, but the research and writing are so good that I was completely drawn intothe story. The narration is excellent, with good variation between the voices.

Beautiful

This book was a beautiful view of faith. Seeing pre-communist China through the eyes of one who loved it was a gift. The back and forth in the narrative style usually bothers me, but this book has so much connection between the characters it did not feel disconnected. It was a non-fiction book that read as a beautiful story.

Tranquil light

What an apt title for an exquisite journey of the best and deepest gifts of the human heart- while riding the tidal wave of China's violent, even dark history. As redemptive a read as I can remember.
Reader was excellent but this would have greatly benefitted by the addition of a female reader speaking for the wife.

Incredibly spiritual and insightful novel

City of Tranquil Light is a gift. It is truly one of the most beautiful and spiritual books I have ever read. It is filled with wisdom and insight, and I was so inspired by the faith and courage of the main characters in the novel. Honestly, it was amazingly profound, and I have been deeply touched and changed by it.

Great Story

Very touching story and performance. They suffered a lot yet Thanked God for letting them serve